Paul Finch

This installment in this series of historical fantasy and horror stories wasn’t as good as its predecessors. I think that’s because many of them are, at their core, monster stories with the surrounding plot and characters not having the thematic seriousness of works in the earlier books.

“The Gaff” is set in the London of the 1830s and has a pair of vicious robbers, Ketch and Bobber, planning to rob a theater in Drury Lane after its sixth and final show for the day. The acts performed there are a combination of the banal, the vulgar, and the risque, and Professor Feltencraft’s Penny-Gaff is a quite profitable venture. And, as Ketch and Bobber will find out, it’s not what it seems in this steampunkish biter-bitten tale. I wish this story would have been longer so some of the implied questions at its end might have been answered.

There are no fantastic elements in “To Walk on Thorny Paths” though there is plenty of gore since it’s a series of locked-room murders. (It was first published in The Mammoth Book of Jacobean Whodunnits). I suspect Finch was inspired by a couple of elements from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, and the story is an interesting mystery with an ending that is ambiguous as to who the guilty parties are behind all this mayhem. But the story’s main interest comes from its setting in 1688. The Monmouth Rebellion has been quelled, but King James II is in the process of being deposed and forced into exile. That’s not good news for Irish Catholic Captain O’Calligan who is politically tied to him. His fate is uncertain that Christmas holiday as he tends to his duties with a snowstorm outside. His job is to keep Lady Foxworth, a fervent Protestant, under house arrest and surveillance as she hosts a holiday gathering. Her future prospects are just as uncertain as O’Calligan’s.

The best story in the book, and the one that most closely approaches some of the best ones in preceding volumes, is “A Plague on Both Your Houses”. Finch not only gives us an intriguing origin for the famed Spring-Heeled Jack of legend but also something of a rumination on British imperialism seem from multiple angles.

But this isn’t the 1830s, Spring-Heeled Jack’s heydey. It’s 1881, and he’s back. Charles Brabinger, recently returned to London after recovering from a wound in the Battle of Ulundi against the Zulus, seeks the help of noted British officer and big game hunter Colonel Thorpe to capture Spring-Heeled Jack. What unfolds are multiple perceptions of the the Empire’s African conquests as Thrope and Brabinger set out to trap Spring-Heeled Jack, and we learn of its ties to not only Africa but Brabinger’s own family. This tale is original to the collection.

I really wanted to like “The Destroyers” more than I did. I was instantly gripped by its characters and settings. It’s 1099, and Jerusalem has fallen to the First Crusade. The looting and raping is still going on when a group of 40 knights go off on another quest for the fabled and rich lost city of Uruk where, near, it is said, the Garden of Eden. It is there the leader, the fearsome Norman Gilles fitzOslac, Count of Cerne, Leopard of Gerberoi seeks final penance for a life of violence. Only in Uruk can their memories be cleansed of the hardships they have endured and the slaughter they have committed.

But I don’t think Finch quite pulls off a satisfying conclusion when Uruk is reached, what is found there, and the Leopard’s reaction to it.

However, along the way, Finch does a good job depicting Crusaders and how their war has been, at least for some, an act of contrition and how the Church was hoping the Crusades would solve the problem of thuggish knights in Europe. The characters are well done. There is Thurstan, the pragmatic knight and the best soldier next to the Leopard. There’s Ramon, a man who perhaps does seek penance but will not renounce his fealty to Leopard and his mission, no matter his increasing unease. His softer side is shown by the English lad, Ulf, that he has taken for a squire. Ulf is appalled at the slaughter and looting when Jerusalem was taken. He’s mostly despised as a cowardly Englishman by the Normans. There’s the avaracious de Vesqui and Bernard d’Etoille, Arch-Deacon of Salisbury who preached a crusade long before Pope Urban announced it. He is appalled that the violent nature of the knights seems unchanged though they have taken Jerusalem.

“Colossus” is another story first appearing here and, if it has an historically significant theme, I suppose it’s the varied moral characters of the soldiers in the army Duke Wellington called “the scum of the Earth”.

It’s 1816, and twelve-year old Tom Caxton has joined an artillery unit of the British Army, one that saw action at Waterloo. After artillery drill on Woolwich Common, Caxton and other soldiers are sent to retrieve the fired cannonballs, But they find some have penetrated into a mound of earth that, it is revealed, covers an old Roman tomb. And the tomb has a guardian, a giant bronze automata. The action is well-done, but, ultimately, it’s another monster tale, just with a bronze monster this time. Finch certainly gives us a range of characters from valiant soldiers to greedy, murderous ones. The historical inspiration for the tale, as revealed in an end note by Finch, is also interesting. There are also some curious echoes in imagery and plot to “The Gaff”. It’s not a bad anthology. It just suffers in comparison to its predecessors.… (mere)

I found this author through his short story in Exit Wounds. In looking for something new to read, this collection of Christmas-themed short stories seemed perfect for my mood and the time of year, and it turned out to be just that.

Some were twists on classic Christmas stories, a few were only set at Christmas time, but all were plenty of fun. I only wished he'd done a twist on the typical romatic Christmas glurge, where a couple meet cute and the idealistic one converts the cynical one to the True Spirit of Christmas (TM).

Audiobook, purchased at Audible, performed by Greg Patmore. His voice is unusual, but I felt he nailed the performance.… (mere)

I really enjoyed this book. It was pacy and unputtdownable. The writer has a gift for suspense. The characters were interesting but they could have been developed a little more; the plot was great and I found myself constantly looking forward to reading about what would happen next. If you like suspenseful and pacy crime writing you will not regret reading this book. Finch should develop this main woman PC character more: the foundations are there for a great character - in many ways she is already.… (mere)